1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the scheduling of order documents in a supply chain management system. Specifically, the embodiments of the invention relate to method and system for determining a delivery schedule that prefers complying with a requested deliver date and a shipping facility able to process the request on the same day over the use of a facing location.
2. Background
An order for a product by a customer is scheduled by the shipping company. The shipping company utilizes supply chain management software to guide this process. The supply chain management software schedules the shipping of the good and determines a shipping location and route based on minimizing a cost to the shipper. Minimizing the cost is achieved by determining a facing location from which to ship the product. A facing location is a preferred shipping location for a given destination. The facing location is typically selected based on geographical proximity or available shipping routes between the shipping location and the end destination.
A customer may be presented with shipping options such as one day or two day delivery. However, these services are based on processing the order within the operating hours of the facing location or the day after receiving the order. If the facing location has closed for the day then the shipping option is measured from the next time that the facing location has operating hours. For example, if a facing location has operating hours between 8 A.M. and 6 P.M. on Monday through Friday, but an order is received at 7 P.M. on Friday for two-day delivery, then the two-day delivery will be measured from the next operating day. In this example, the next operating data is Monday. So the two-day shipping is determined from Monday, when the order is processed. As a result, the ordered product is likely to arrive on Wednesday, which is two days after the order was received on Monday, but five days from when it was placed on Friday.